Greenwood firefighters' pager system fails

Greenwood firefighters' pager system fails

Greenwood firefighters were late getting to a kitchen fire when their pager system failed and the house burned to the ground.

GREENWOOD, Ark. (AP) — Greenwood firefighters were late getting to a kitchen fire when their pager system failed and the house burned to the ground.

No one was injured in the fire early Wednesday but the home was a total loss.

Greenwood Fire Chief Stewart Bryan says a dispatcher called him at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday with the fire report and he sent a mass text message to his department. He also sent a page to contact two other area fire chiefs to try to get more firefighters to the scene.

The Southwest Times Record reports the paging system wasn't operating and a backup was also out of order.

Bryan says that by the time firefighters arrived, the fire had already come through the roof.